State of bathing water

Quality of bathing water - 2017 bathing season

To allow Europeans to make an informed choice on which beach to choose, an annual report on the quality of coastal and freshwater bathing areas, as reported by EU Member States is prepared. This year the report has been prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in cooperation with the European Commission DG Environment. The report assesses the bathing water quality in all 28 EU Member States, as well as Albania and Switzerland in the 2017 bathing water season and thereby gives an indication of the areas where the quality of bathing is expected to be good this year.

Details on all Member States bathing waters for the 2017 season can be found in the national bathing water reports:

Each report contains details on bathing water monitoring in the specific country and an assessment of the 2017 results and the trend in bathing water quality.

The EU summary report is based on bathing water data available up to mid May 2018.

• Data download: Bathing Water Directive - Status of bathing water 2017
• Archive: National reports for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 bathing seasons
• National or regional websites for bathing water quality
• Bathing water photo gallery

Bathing water quality interactive map

We all want to know the quality of 'our' local bathing area, beach or lake, and whether it conforms to EU standards. Below you will find a map viewer that will allow you to view on-line the quality of the bathing water in the more than 21 000 coastal beaches and freshwater bathing waters across Europe.

By using the WISE map viewer you can check the bathing water quality on an interactive map. It also documents how bathing waters have changed throughout Europe in recent years and provides a full summary of Europe’s bathing water quality in 2016. Go directly to the WISE map viewer

More information

• More information on the Bathing Water Directives
• See also EU Commission's Bathing Water Homepage